Is Iran an evil country? Certainly not, despite the efforts of western propaganda.
However, it does have a government that most Iranians do not support, it can be complicated to obtain a visa and travelling in the country has some difficulties, mostly derived from Islamic laws and international sanctions. But anybody who visits Iran will definitely have those stereotypes changed and will mostly remember how nice, welcoming and educated Iranians are, how developed the country is in many aspects and how much history and culture this region contains.And of course, people will also remember covered girls, especially foreign women who have to wear head scarves and long sleeves in public places (men have to wear long pants as well), not being able to drink a cold beer when the heat reaches 45 degrees, having to carry cash all the time because the country is not connected to the international credit card network and other nuisances. But again, all those issues are compensated by people there, who will make sure that all your needs are covered. When I was invited to people's homes in Iran, I honestly felt like at home.

I did not write anything on this blog while I was in Iran for a few reasons. First of all, a computer virus deleted all my pictures from Iran when I was transferring them to my laptop. It really seemed like a government-sponsored piece of software to avoid too many pictures being taken out of the country by tourists. Fortunately, a week later I was introduced to a data recovery expert who managed to recover most of them. Besides, internet access is not very reliable in the country and it is always filtered by the government... one of the blocked webpages is Google+, which is where I keep my blog pictures. The cherry on top of the cake was placed by a guy in a cafe who spilled a non-alcoholic beer that I had not ordered on my laptop, while I was working on it. When the beer dried up, a few keys became so sticky it was impossible to type... I solved it a few days later by splashing water (this time the laptop was off) and dissolving the beer remains. Risky but effective!

Among the pictures that I could not recover were all I took in Takht-e Soleiman, one of the main Zoroastrian temples in Iran, and the Assassin's Castle in Alamut, near Qazvin. Fortunately, I managed to save most pictures from the main three cities in Iran from a touristic point of view: Isfahan, Shiraz and Yazd. This post will be about Isfahan, an impressive city that I visited twice and that became my favorite in the country because of its undeniable beauty and its lively atmosphere.

River Zayandeh, one of the largest in the country, crosses Isfahan and contributed to shape its architecture with magnificent bridges. Sadly, these days the river carries no water because previous governments considered that a waste of resources and diverted the water for agricultural purposes. Isfahanis say that the bridges were a thousand times better with water than without it, but I cannot compare... they are still very nice. Khajoo is probably the most famous bridge and locals can be seen every night over there, strolling, chatting or just sitting down and enjoying the fresh evening air.

The heart of Isfahan is the Imam Square, with its park, central pond, covered bazaars and mosques. In the evenings, there are many people laying blankets and having picnics but, due to its massive size, it never felt crowded. The Imam Mosque, with its gate facing the square and its real entrance facing Mecca, is nicely lighted at night.

The Jameh Mosque is the second most famous in town, connected to the square by two kilometer long bazaar arcades. The ground is covered by carpets for praying and there were some portraits to remember visitors who rules the country...

And now back to Armenia... sort of. The Armenian Cathedral in Isfahan is one of the most unusual but impressive sights. It blends Muslim and Christian, Persian and Armenian, elements to create a very unique building. The blue and white tiles on the facade had Armenian letters instead of Farsi and the interior is full of biblical frescoes on top of colorful mosaics. Really worth the visit.

In Isfahan I also met some CSers but I never took a camera with me to our meetings and private parties... I had a great time with Mana and Massi and I hope we meet again in the future. They are some of the people who really made a difference for my trip in Iran.

Next stop: Shiraz.